Perception Of Antagonist In Movies Among Chinese College Students

The object of this thesis is to set up a new theory/model in the study of interculturalcommunication, to explain the complex dynamism of cultural values and its evolvingrelationship with mass media, to predict the possible cultural trend of China and world atlarge. This framework is built upon the integration of Taiji Diagram, the essence ofTaoist theory, with Kluckhohn’s Values Orientations (1961), Hofstede’s “OnionDiagram”(2001), Hofstede’s6-Dimensions (2010), and Schwartz’s “Structure of ValueRelations”(2012). The development for this research is through Chinese college students’perceptions on antagonists’ image-building in movies. The following are the reasons forpicking this approach as well as the main arguments covered in this thesis. The systemwe rely on to update perceptions from the cultural stories of childhood and our youth canbe referred to “Software of the Mind”(Hofstede,1991). If the major part of thisindividual system is shared by a group of people by being exposed to the same culturalstories, i.e. they are likely to form similar opinions and customs upon their practice, thenthe common part can be viewed as “cultural values”. Kluckhohn’s Values Orientations(1961), Hofstede’s “Onion Diagram”(2001), Hofstede’s6-Dimensions (2010), andSchwartz’s “Structure of Value Relations”(2012) are the classic theories most cited incultural studies.In the era of globalization, it seems recognizable that cultural values are undergoingmany changes through people’s exposure to a new wave of cultural stories from both Eastand West, at a rather astonishing rate. Thanks to today’s advanced communicationtechnology, these stories are spreading so widely and so quickly in society via “massmedia” such as radio, TVs, movies, and cyber social networks. It is generallyacknowledged that the content of any form of mass media is a cultural product and itseffects are huge upon people’s lives as well as their cultural values. The evolvingmechanism between cinema and cultural values will be discussed in this thesis using theTaoist approach that the author has proposed as well as value theories of Kluckhohn,Hofstede, and Schwartz. The movies in question here are mainly Chinese movies andAmerican movies representing East cultures and West cultures respectively.In any given form of storytelling, two basic character formations can be founduniversally, the roles of a hero/protagonist and a villain/antagonist; two character traits representing the very dichotomy with human values. This duality (values and anti-valuesportrayed through the protagonist/antagonist confrontation) defines a moral and ethicalcharacterization of both individual and cultural identities and inspires the author toinquire from the perspective of Taoist theory—the Taiji Diagram with duality of yin-yang.Since protagonists and antagonists are equally worthy of study as they constitute the storytogether and much of the attention has been to the studies of protagonists rather thanantagonists, this thesis will focus on the study of antagonists in movies to fill the void inthis field.The research is conducted through the analysis of viewer’s perceptions upon them asthe perception or opinions of viewers can give light to the objective aspect of the study—antagonists’ image-building in movies (the cultural product of movie producers) and thesubjective aspect of the study–the lens of viewers (the orientation of viewers’ culturalvalues). The target viewers in this thesis focus on Chinese college students, from whosefeedbacks of survey the author uses both context and statistical analysis to seek groundsand to support his theory in explaining the dynamism of cultural values and currentcultural trend.The hypotheses which are proposed according to the assumption from this new theoryare examined through quantitative analysis based on the data collected via an onlinesurvey and the models which are the products of integrating Taiji Diagram withcontemporary value studies are applied in interpreting the research findings. The keyresults of this paper indicts a new era of intercultural communication where mass medialike cinema leads the cultural values in acceptance of both the East and the Westexpending to include each other while the emphasis of each side changing towards theother’s side at the same time. Since the main feedbacks to the survey are college studentsin the Shanghai area, the findings of this research are not convincingly adequate to provethis trend in terms of Chinese college students in general, which leaves room for furtherresearch in this direction.